Obituary - Current Affairs for January, 2017

Obituary Current Affairs for January, 2017

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Roman Herzog who was Germany's second president after reunification died on 10th Jan 2017 in Bad Mergentheim at the age of 82.

Like predecessor Richard bon Weizsacker, Herzog used the presidency, largely a ceremonial post to serve as a guardian for liberal and democratic values.

He was known to stress Germany's moral responsibility for past crimes. He was also known for a 1997 speech in Berlin where he spoke about structural reasons for the malaise.

Herzog called for overhaul of the labor market, the taxation system, health insurance and management of public works.

He also stressed on reduction in regulations and reducing unemployment among low wage workers.

Fellow Christian Democrat Helmut Kohl nominated Herzog for the post of president in 1994. His successor Gerhard Schroeder pushed in measures like cuts in unemployment and pension benefits.

Reductions in income tax and labour market overhauls were also initiated by Schroeder. The changes have been credited with a boom that transformed Germany.

During Herzog's presidency, Germany was still recovering and was known as the “sick man of Europe.”

These changes have been credited with a boom that transformed Germany into a robust economy.

Political Career: Roman Herzog

From 1973 to 1978, he represented the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Bonn, the West German capital.

From 1978 to 1980 he was minister of culture and sports in the state of Baden-Württemberg. From 1980 to 1983 he was a member of the Baden-Württemberg Legislature.

As the state’s interior minister, he developed a hard-line reputation.

As a judge on the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, which he joined in 1983, Mr. Herzog upheld the right of protesters who had converged on a nuclear power plant in Brokdorf, in northern Germany.

He became the court’s president in 1987.

He was not especially well known when Mr. Kohl nominated him to succeed Mr. von Weizsäcker, who had been president of West Germany since 1984 and served on after reunification in 1990.

Herzog stepped down from the presidency in 1999 and was succeeded by Johannes Rau, a moderate Social Democrat.

In 2002, Herzog helped found the Roman Herzog Institute, which works to improve public policy.

Know More About Roman Herzog

Born: Landshut, Bavaria

Date: April 5, 1934

Educational Career: Law at Ludwig Maximilian University (1953-1957)

Teaching career: Taught law and politics at University of Munich, the Free University of Berlin and the University of Administrative Sciences in Spreyer.

Mario Soares, a former prime minister and president of Portugal who helped steer his country toward democracy after a 1974 military coup and grew into a global statesman through his work with the Socialist International movement, has died at age 92.

Soares died on 7th Jan 2016. A moderate Socialist, he returned from 12 years of political exile after the almost bloodless Carnation Revolution toppled Portugal's four-decade dictatorship in 1974.

As a lawyer, he had used peaceful means to fight the country's regime, which eventually banished him. Soares was elected Portugal's first post-coup prime minister in 1976 and thwarted Portuguese Communist Party attempts to bring the NATO member under Soviet influence during the Cold War.

He helped lead his country from dictatorship to parliamentary democracy and a place in the European Union.

Soares' role as an international statesman was solidified through his work with the International Socialist movement. As a vice president from 1976, he led diplomatic missions that sought to help resolve conflicts in the Middle East and Latin and Central America.

In 1986, Soares became Portugal's first civilian president in 60 years. His broad popularity brought him two consecutive five-year terms.

Soares belonged to a generation of influential European Socialist leaders that also included Francois Mitterrand of France, Germany's Willy Brandt, Olof Palme in Sweden, and Felipe Gonzalez in Spain. He also led the Carnation Revolution, called so because people stuck the flowers at the end of gun barrels of soldiers during the Communist regime.

The Communist Party's influence surged following the coup, prompting fears in the West that Portugal–a founding member of the Atlantic military alliance – would come under the Soviet Union's influence and encourage other radical leftist movements in western Europe.

Soares, who led the Socialist Party, won the country's first entirely free elections and became prime minister. He was instrumental in quickly granting independence to Portugal's five colonies in Africa.

All of them - Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and Sao Tome and Principe - became single-party Marxist states supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba after their independence.

About Martin Soares

Born in Lisbon in 1924, Soares started out as a radical student organizer.

He became a renowned defense lawyer.

He was a relentless opponent of Salazar's regime, which along with Franco's roughly contemporary rule in neighboring Spain, shut off the Iberian peninsula to outside influences.

Salazar's secret police, known by acronym PIDE, jailed Soares 12 times and exiled him twice, once to the island of Sao Tome off west Africa.

After democracy, Soares served four times as the country's foreign minister and three times as prime minister.

Tony Atkinson, a professor of economics at University of Oxford well known for his stellar work on poverty and inequality as well as income distribution died on Jan 1, 2016 at age 72. His work led the fields of inequality, income distribution, and poverty for many decades, bringing clarity and practical insight to pressing social issues.

Atkinson was called “the godfather of modern scholarship on the distribution of income and wealth” by fellow economist Thomas Piketty. The Atkinson index has been named after him.

The index measures which end of the distribution has contributed most to observed inequality.

Atkinson published one co-authored article in the Indian Journal of Human Development on data for policy.

He was knighted in 2001 for services to economics and was also awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.

At the London School of Economics, Mr. Atkinson held the title of Centennial Professor.

The author of more than 40 books, Mr. Atkinson was mainly known for his creative and exacting use of empirical methods besides revolutionary ideas like minimum inheritance.

Mr. Atkinson’s book “The Distribution of Personal Wealth in Britain” (1978), co-written with A. J. Harrison, examined inheritance tax records in Britain between 1911 and 1975 to describe changes in the distribution of wealth.

That book and an earlier book - “Shares of Upper Income Groups in Income and Savings” (1953) by Simon Kuznets, which drew on income tax records and national accounts in the United States between 1913 and 1948 - originated research on inequality.

His final book, “Inequality: What Can Be Done?,” published in 2015, summed up decades of findings and offered 15 proposals for tackling inequality.

Among his suggestions: a guaranteed interest rate on savings, via bonds; higher marginal income tax rates, with a top rate of 65 percent (it is currently 39.6 percent in the United States and 45 percent in Britain); and a progressive, rather than uniform, property tax rate.

Perhaps his boldest proposal was to use inheritance taxes to finance a minimum inheritance, payable to all citizens on reaching adulthood.

Among other major works, Mr. Atkinson was the author, with Joseph E. Stiglitz, of the seminal 1980 textbook “Lectures on Public Economics,” recently reissued by Princeton University Press.

Mr. Atkinson helped organize the World Wealth and Income Database, a resource for the comparative study of inequality.

He served on many boards, and was chairman of the World Bank Commission on Global Poverty, which issued recommendations in October toward the goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030.

He was also the president, since 2012, of the board of the L.I.S. (formerly the Luxembourg Income Study), which manages a database widely used by researchers.

About Professor Tony Atkinson

Anthony Barnes Atkinson was born on Sept. 4, 1944, in Caerleon, a town in southern Wales near the border with England.

He attended the Cranbrook School in Kent and then Churchill College, Cambridge, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1966.

He was a fellow at St. John’s College, Cambridge, from 1967 to 1971.

He was a professor of economics at the University of Essex from 1971 to 1976.

He held the post of a professor of political economy at University College, London, from 1976 to 1979.

He joined the London School of Economics in 1980 and taught there until 1992.

He was warden, or head of Nuffield college, from 1994 to 2005. He remained a fellow of Nuffield until his death.

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a staunch political survivor despite his support for moderates, died on Sunday after suffering a heart attack, at the age of 82.

He was a pivotal figure in the foundation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, and served as President from 1989 to 1997.

He was part of the Expediency Council, Iran’s main political arbitration body which Mr. Rafsanjani chaired.

Mr. Rafsanjani’s death is a huge loss for both reformists and moderates, as he stood as a pillar for the two camps.

Born on August 25, 1934, in the village of Nough in southern Iran into a wealthy family, Rafsanjani studied theology in the holy city of Qom before entering politics in 1963 after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s police arrested the founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

A confidant of Khomeini, Mr. Rafsanjani was the Speaker of Parliament for two consecutive terms until Khomeini’s death in 1989. Towards the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, his presidency was marked by reconstruction, cautious reform and repairs to Iran’s relations with its Arab neighbours.

But it was also marred by human rights violations, rampant inflation and difficult relations with Europe, not least with Britain after the “death sentence”, or fatwa, handed down to writer Salman Rushdie by Khomeini.

Serving a maximum of 2 consecutive terms, he supported reformist Mohammad Khatami, who succeeded him as President from 1997 to 2005.

Mr. Rafsanjani was always a member of Iran’s top clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, charged with appointing - and if required dismissing - the country’s supreme leader.

Well known jurist CG Weermantry passed away on 5th Jan 2016 at the age of 90. He was the first Sri Lankan to be appointed to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

He began his judicial career in the 1950s, and became Sri Lanka’s youngest Supreme Court judge.

He later was appointed as a senior judge there before moving to Australia as the Sir Hayden Stark Professor of Law at Monash University.

In the early 1990s, he was part of the ICJ when the WHO sought information on nuclear deal legality.

Justice Weeramantry set up the Colombo-based Weeramantry Centre for International Peace and also served as president of the International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms, a non-governmental organisation headquartered in The Hague.

Veteran film actor Om Puri has passed away after suffering a heart attack. The 66-year-old Puri was known for his acting in films like Ardh Satya, Aakrosh, Jane Bhi Do Yaaron, Bhavni Bhavai, Mirch Masala and Dharavi.

He was a graduate of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and he won the National Film Award for Best Actor for Arohan in 1982.

The famous actor delivered some stellar performances in mainstream commercial Pakistani, Indian and British cinema.

He also entered Hollywood with his roles in 'City of Joy', 'Gandhi' and 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist'.

Puri lent his voice for the character Bagheera, the black panther in the popular television animated Hindi series “Mowgli” and for the Hollywood movie, “The Jungle Book.”

Among the British films that earned him name are “My Son the Fanatic,” “East Is East” and “The Parole Officer.” He appeared in Hollywood films such as “City of Joy,” “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” and most recently in Steven Spielberg’s comedy drama “The Hundred-Foot Journey.”

He also made a cameo in Richard Attenborough’s “Gandhi.”

Puri was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian honors, in 1990 and received an honorary OBE for his contribution to the British film industry in 2004.

Noted Manipur-based historian, litterateur and scholar Gangmumei Kamei, who had also served as a minister, passed away in Imphal on 5th Jan 2016 following protracted illness.

Kamei was currently a member of the North Eastern Council (NEC). Born on October 21, 1939 in Imphal. He specialized in history.

Kamei, who had specialised in the history of the North-eastern region, had served as a professor of History in Manipur University, and was also elected president of the Northeast India History Association (NEIHA) in its Kohima session of 1986.

Kamei was also a member of the Advisory Committee of the Anthropological Survey of India (1984-87), and a member of the ICSSR panel on Tribal Studies.

In 2010 he was awarded the Platinum Jubilee Samman by the Manipuri Sahitya Parishad for his contribution to history and tribal culture.

He was also awarded a National Fellowship by Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla in 2010-2012.

He hailed from the Zeliangrong community which exists across Manipur, Nagaland and Assam, and was also into active politics and public life, having founded the Federal Party of Manipur in 1993.

He was also elected to the state assembly twice, in 1995 and 2001, and had also served as a minister on two occasions.

In 2013 Kamei joined the BJP, to contest as the party’s candidate for Lok Sabha from the Outer Manipur constituency in the 2014 general election. In July 2015, the Narendra Modi government appointed him as a member of the NEC.

As president of the Manipur History Society and coordinator of the Centre for Manipuri Studies & Tribal Research of Manipur University he had guided several major research projects in history.

Renowned sitar player Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan- the last survivor of the Sitar Trinity - has died at the age of 88 on Jan 4, 2016.

The Sitar Trinity comprised him besides Late Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Vilayat Khan. He was the last surviving member of the Sitar Trinity till his death.

He is succeeded by eminent sitar player and son Zunain A. Khan. Conferred with the Padmashri, Padma Bhushan and Sangeet Natak Akademi awards, Khan hailed from the Indore Gharana and is credited for innovating the unique music style of Jafferkhani Baaj.

Born in 1929 in Jawra, Madhya Pradesh, during his music career spanning over six decades, Khan played the sitar for various Bollywood films, including Mughal-E-Azam, Kohinoor, Goonj Uthi Shehnai and Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje.

He was the son of renowned singer and musician Jaffer Khan. He started his musical career with AIR in the 1940s. Among the earliest trendsetters of Indian classical musicians collaborating with western musicians, in 1958 he partnered with jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, and with English classical guitarist Julian Bream in 1963.

Khan Saab was the youngest of the famous Star Trinity of India. Known for his unique musical innovation Jafferkhani Baaj, he created a synthesis of precision in technique and a unique playing style.

He was known for bringing Carnatic music ragas Kirwani, Kanakangi, Latangi, Karaharapriya, Manavati, Ganamurti and others into the Sitar repertoire with a Hindustani music touch in the Jafferkhani style.

Khan became the first Hindustani classical musician who collaborated in Carnatic music with legendary Veena exponent, Emani Sankara Sastry.

In 1976, he set up the Halim Academy of Sitar in Mumbai to impart training to young Sitar players and among his renowned students are son Zunain, Prasad Joglekar and Gargi Shinde, Director, Jazz Programmes at Chamber Music America.

Huston Smith, called the “Ambassador to the World's Religions” who said he believed in the best of all faiths has died at the age of 97 on Jan 3, 2016.

He travelled the world visiting mosques, temples, ashrams, gurdwaras, monasteries and churches.

He was also close to swamis, gurus, lamas, monks and maulvis.

The Indophile was an inter-faith leader.

One of the greatest historians of religion and philosophy, he believed in numerous religions from Hinduism to Islam.

He was known for his classic book “The Religions of Man” published in 1958.

He remained in the Methodist faith and said he moved to a new idiom for expressing the same basic truths.

He practiced and studied Vedanta after graduating from University of Chicago.

Chronology of events

Barbara Tarbuck, the busy actress who played Lady Jane Jacks on General Hospital for more than a decade and recently appeared on American Horror Story, has died at the age of 74.

Veteran Congress leader and former Union minister Eknathrao Vikhe-Patil, popularly known as Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil, passed away in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra after a prolonged illness. He was 84.

John Berger, the British art critic, intellectual and prodigious author whose pioneering 1972 book and the Ways of Seeing - the BBC series it spawned redefined the way a generation saw art, passed away on Jan 2nd 2016 at age 90.

Imtiaz Ahmed, a member of Pakistan's first-ever cricket Test team, died in a Lahore hospital after a brief illness in Jan 2017.

Veteran All India Forward Bloc leader and former West Bengal minister Saral Deb passed away following a prolonged illness. He was 82. He was a six-time state legislator.

British singer-songwriter Peter Sarstedt has died at the age of 75. Best known for the 1969 number one hit ‘Where Do You Go To My Lovely’, his family announced that he died after a six-year battle with progressive supranuclear palsy.

Senior Congress leader and former Tourism Minister of Maharashtra Chandrakant Chhajed passed away in Pune on 14th Jan 2017 due to prolonged illness. He was 67.

Dick Gautier, who starred on Broadway in the original production of Bye, Bye Birdie and then famously played Hymie the Robot on the sitcom Get Smart, has died. He was 85.

Senior Congress leader and former state minister Tarun Prasad Chatterjee passed away in Raipur on Jan 19, 2017 following a cardiac arrest. He was 68.

Sir John Hurt, who won Oscar nominations for the Elephant Man and captured the hearts of millions for his roles in Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, has died.